"Welcome to Tark incorporated..." the same repetitive video played on the screen above my head. I sat there twiddling my pen in between my fingers and then rattling it around my mouth it bouncing off my teeth. I checked my watch. The sunlight reflecting off the metal rim around the clock face into my eyes. I changed the angle and saw the time.
"Excuse me?" I asked the secretary behind the big desk a few meters away.
"Yes, sir?" her voice bounced back. Her head was facing the desk where she was working on a soduko puzzle. She was the kind of person who hated their job but kind of tried, not very much though, because it was good pay.
"I'm supposed to be in a meeting with your boss right now." I got up from the sofa id sunk myself into an hour ago. "I was supposed to be out of here, it's a 10 minute meeting with Mrs Joshua. Simple but she's 40 minutes late. Do you have any information on where she is?" the secretary started to look up slowly. She straightened her glasses and pushed her hair back over her head as it was drooped over onto her desk.
"I'm afraid I have no news on where she is..." she turned to her computer and typed something in. "apparently sir she logged into her office 10 minutes ago and should be in her office but as you can see..." she turned and pointed to the office where Mrs Joshua should of been, its glass door and front wall gave a view of the whole office and no-one was in there. "no-ones there." She finished. I turned to the secretary there was what sounded like a yelp and wood snapping I looked back at the room there was a hole in the cabinet wall, it stood out as it was a different colour to the rest of the wood.
"Get me in there!" I raised my voice to the secretary and un-did my suit jacket.
"Its open sir" she said as she flicked a switch connected to the door. As I approached the door I could see a body on the floor. I picked up pace and pushed the door, it swung open and I drew my gun from inside my jacket. I knelt down she wasn't breathing. There was a door near her desk that leads into the next office. It was slowly closing. Whatever had happened here was very recent.
I woke up in my bed as usual. The dream id just had was the same as the normal one but this went on for longer. To start with the dream lasted till talking to the secretary but recently they'd started getting longer, each time one more detail was added. I knew what the dream was, it was the last case I did for the F.B.I, 7 years with the bureau and I was let go due to one failed mission. Saying that she was the most important target I ever had to protect and I failed that. She was in charge of one of the 3 biggest businesses of the 24th century. The defence of the business should have been impeccable but there was a hole and I was to fill that hole by being her body guard while they got an actual way to protect her. I got up and looked in the mirror. My shaggy blonde hair, unwashed for days, looked worse than usual. My eyes were dim because of a lack of sleep. I wiped the curry off my mouth. After being let go my life went into turmoil, I lost my house, turned to drink and lost all my money to gambling. I stood there wishing I had a better life. There weren't many choices left. Id went from being a 14 year old boy to suddenly a federal agent. Then before my life has even properly begun it was over, alcoholic with major debt and no prospects for the future. My best choice was a cafe down the road but everyone who went there somehow got caught up in gang violence. I looked down at the sink and turned the tap on. I splashed my face with cold water that made me shudder. I walked away from the mirror, threw on a top found the shoe under my bed and put it on. Id slept almost fully clothed after collapsing drunk the night before. I grabbed my keys and left the flat. As I heard the door lock behind me the flat upstairs, my landlord. I quickly ran down the stairs, owing 3 months rent to a normal landlord was bad but to a drug dealer. I was in deep shit. As I reached the door to the block I saw police lights outside the house. This was un-usual even though we were in a rough street. L.A is the place not to be if you're an ex-F.B.I agent. Not many people get close to me. Everyone except one person. My older brother who took a house across the road. He was a Starfleet officer. Commander onboard the USS Ambassador. He was the only one who even slightly helped me when I became an alcoholic.
Once outside I saw one of the windows of my brother's house was shattered. My heart pounded heavily. I looked at other windows. They were all shattered. I began to talk across the road. My mind oblivious to passing cars. Thankfully there were none. I went to a policeman standing outside the tape restraining access to the house.
"What's going on here officer?" I asked him. I felt like I had a stone in my throat I could hardly talk.
"There's been a murder, sir" he replied to me. I started crying. A truck went passed its engine hurt my head. I had a hangover from last night. "A man seemingly broke in and was killed. Do you know the owner of this house? He was held up in here from an hour before we went in and arrested him." I looked at the door. It was broken in and scratched. The glass panel on it was broken like the rest of the houses glass.
"He was my brother, the owner. Is he going to go to prison?" I asked.
"He murdered someone and shot at police officers. He's going to be away for an awfully long time, he may never get out, son. To be brutally honest." He was talking too much. I didn't like it. I turned away and walked back across the street. I walked up to my apartment and unlocked the door. I walked in and grabbed my phone. He was all I had in the city, everything now turned to nothing. I had to do something. My brother may not have been such a good guy, such a role model to live up to. I got a t-shirt off my floor and a spare pair of jeans. Then I put it into a bag and left the apartment, i put the keys through the post box and left the flats once more. I stopped at the notice board and found underneath all the recent notices the one i wanted.
"ENLIST IN STARFLEET."